Enable at her best at the Arc de Triomphe - Teddy Grimthorpe pays tribute to retiring star

Grimthorpe, who is the long-standing racing manager to owner Khalid Abdullah, was at ParisLongchamp just over a week ago when the John Gosden-trained six-year-old had to settle for sixth place in her quest for an unprecedented third Arc win, with the heavy French ground taking its toll.

Hopes had been raised of a swansong at Ascot on Champions Day when she appeared on the Newmarket gallops last week, but she will instead be retired and is booked in for a date with Kingman, who is also owned by Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms operation.

Enable won 15 of her 19 races with her 11 Group Ones including three King Georges, the English and Irish Oaks and the Breeders’ Cup Turf, but Grimthorpe believes Chantilly in 2017 provided a special moment.

“I’ve been asked a few times in recent weeks what I think was her best ever performance. I think the Oaks was the first time that she blasted into the stratosphere,” said Grimthorpe.

“It was a race run in record time through a thunderstorm and she finished five lengths clear of Rhododendron. That really set out her stall as a marker that she was above the average Group One horse.

“Her first two King Georges were special, it’s hard to separate the two, but for me her best performance was her first Arc at Chantilly.

“It was a superb ride by Frankie (Dettori) - he made a manoeuvre early which put her in a great spot so that coming around the bend, you could be pretty confident something good was going to happen.”

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James Mitchinson